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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

THE 16 MOST ANNOYING CHARACTERS IN SCIFI/FANTASY TV & FILM

Allow me to pose the age old question again. Who are the most annoying characters in science fiction and fantasy television and films? I'm sure you have your own picks. I know I have mine! I'm sure there are quite a few characters I haven't thought of. I was inspired to write this article after reading a great i09 article last year, "Why Do We Hate So Many Female Characters So Much?" According to io9 it's a combination of factors:

-No defining characteristics

-Poor writing.

-Poor acting.

-Fans are often unwilling to give female characters the same slack they give male characters.

They make a good point. Most of the irritating characters on my list are female. So I think io9 might be on to something.

If you haven't seen the latest episodes for some of these television shows or movies, then please beware of SPOILERS. Turn back now.

Anikin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) in 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith' is one of the most annoying characters in fiction period. One doesn't even have to specify science fiction. I don't think Christensen is going to be winning an Oscar anytime soon, but I do believe that he probably did the best he could with what he had. I place most of the blame on the old familiar wooden writing of George Lucas.

The best thing Lucas did was sell Star Wars to Disney. Sometimes your most creative years are behind you and it's time to go. The trick is to know when it's time to go. Hopefully Disney will freshen it up a bit because Anakin Skywalker was so emo, irritating, and whiny. Another problem was the casting. Christensen was not a good fit for the role. IMHO Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan) carried most of the scenes they had together.

1993 was an interesting year. There were some terrible things that happened that year, the first World Trade Center terrorists attack, a massive earthquake in Japan, the Waco, Texas siege, the Bosnian/Croatian civil war, 'Unforgiven' won best picture, "Whoomp There it Is" was at the top of the pop charts, etc. There were also some good things that happened that year. A gallon of gas was $1.16, computer generated imagery (CGI) had drastically improved, the first-person shooter video game 'Doom' was released by id Software, the Internet was in its infancy, cell phones were around even if they looked like bricks with long antennas, and Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' came to theaters on June 11th.

Depending on your age, you may not remember 1993, but needless to say it was not like 2014, so seeing dinosaurs on screen was a real treat. When I first saw the film in theaters I loved almost everything about the movie, except some of the typical Steven Spielberg cheesiness AND the little girl from 'Jurassic Park' otherwise known as Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards).

The problem really was bad writing. The writers simultaneously made the little girl a master computer hacker and dumb as a rock. Note to self: If you see a massive flesh eating Tyrannosaurus Rex come TOWARDS YOU through the "formerly" electrified gates don't shine a light in its face! And if Sam Neil tries to save you, don't scream your lungs out when the "seemingly" blind T-Rex is staring you down. Way to go crappy writers! I could see a five year old doing this, but not a teenager. I was a young teen in 1993. Richards and I are around the same age. So I heartily believe that this character should have known better.

I sat next to someone who yelled at the screen, "Slap Her!" That's when you know a character is irritating. In this situation, the writers were 100% at fault. They purposely made this little girl the most irritating character imaginable. They could have caused a headlight malfunction or made the cowardly guy (the one who got eaten in the portable bathrooms | Donald Gennaro played by Martin Ferrero) leave a flashlight on as he ran out of the car. I don't know. Anything else would have been preferable. This scene just made no sense.

When you type in the name "Dawn Summers," it automatically populates "Dawn Summers Annoying." So I know I am not alone in my disdain for this character. For the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' fans, you may remember that Buffy's annoying little sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) started the show in Season 5. For whatever reason Buffy went from a lonely child to a big sister in the matter of one episode. The appearance of Dawn Summers was magical of course. Monks made "the key to unlock gates between all dimensions" into flesh and sent it to the slayer so that the slayer would protect it with her life. What better way to ensure the key's survival than to make it into the slayer's sibling?

Interesting storyline, sure, but Dawn's casting and the whiny dialogue were a bit of a problem. Joss Whedon is a master of dialogue, but somehow the Dawn character took a wrong turn somewhere. In the latter seasons of Buffy, I'm sure Whedon took more of a production role, versus a writing role. So who knows who wrote the majority of Dawn's lines? For whatever reason Hollywood writers seem to have a hard time writing dialogue for teenage girls.

Sure, little sisters are supposed to irritate bigger sisters. I know my sisters irritate me, but little Dawny took the cake! And yes, we get it--characters getting into trouble makes for good drama, but common sense should eventually prevail. For example, Buffy was always in trouble or danger or whatever, but at least she came across as semi-intelligent. After all, Buffy was just a teenager herself when she became the slayer of all evil.

I almost didn't put Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) from 'The Fifth Element' on this list, but my husband insisted. I personally found Tucker's performance to be quite humorous, but I've heard so many people complain that his character really annoyed them. I remember seeing an interview with Tucker saying that director Luc Besson wanted him to be even more over the top and wear much wilder outfits. According to Tucker, the character in the film was actually toned down from what Besson originally wanted.

Even still, many people found Tucker's delivery and his perpetual screaming throughout the film to be irritating. I however, found his character to be endearing and a welcome comic relief. When I found out that Ruby Rhod was originally supposed to be played by Prince...well that makes sense.

I never found Minka Kelly to be believable as Detective Stahl in 'Almost Human.' Other characters (even guest stars) seemed to have more character development than Stahl. Kennex's killer ex-girlfriend only appeared in three brief scenes during the first episode, but she had more personality than Kelly's character. I am unsure of Kelly's acting ability, but I believe that the primary culprit was beyond her. Lily Taylor as Captain Sandra Maldonado was much better utilized and fully fleshed out. We understand her motivations and her personality. This never happened for Detective Stahl.

It seems like Stahl was written exclusively as a one-dimensional love interest for Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban). One fan noted that Detective Stahl looked at Kennex like an obsessed fan girl (or like I would). I have to agree with her. Detective Stahl gushingly admires Karl Urban like I would. That's not what I necessarily want to see in a love interest. Give me some mystery. Give me some Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennett cliched discourse. Give me anything but a lovesick teenager looking up at Karl Urban with doe eyes. A male fan yelled at me on a message board and said that Stahl was "fan service/eye candy," so "shut up." That may be fine for a little while, but when the rubber meets the road, most fans want a character to have some substance to him/her.

We did learn that Stahl was a genetically modified human, which explained some things. Perhaps if the show had seen a second season, then Kelly would have had a fighting chance. I suppose it's a moot point now that the show has been cancelled. Like most scifi shows on Fox, we will never know.

Lana, Lana, Lana. Lana Lang was a character who should have lasted four years, not seven. The show lasted for 10. Kristin Kruek isn't my favorite actress, but I think most of the frustration with her character was due to poor writing. Lana's character had run it's course early on in the series, but the show is called 'Smallville' and the powers that be (TPTB) were going to stick with the "no tights no flights" formula even if it killed the show.

The problem with Clark Kent being in 'Smallville' for 10 years, is that in order to prevent us (the viewing audience) from becoming bored, they went a little crazy, especially with poor Lana. Lana was a little bit of everything. Lana was a cheerleader, a barista, an entrepreneur, a pod person ninja, a witch, a ghost, an alien magnet, a vampire/college student, a 'Flatliner' junkie, Lady Luthor, a puppet master, and finally Lana becomes a superhero herself. Whew!

Once the teen love ballads started playing in the background and the lights dimmed you knew it was on. So Lana Lang was a product of poor decision making. Had TPTB focused exclusively on Lana during the high school years (2001 through 2005), then made Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) a transitional love interest, until the fantastic Lois Lane (played by Erica Durance) appeared, then perhaps the show would have flowed better and Lana could have just been the sweet Lana Lang we know and love from the comics. Instead, we had 7+ years of Lana-insanity.

Side note: The show also went a little nuts with Chloe too. Chloe (Allison Mack) was a school newspaper editor, wall of weird collector, stalker, FBI informant, third wheel, witch, ghost, sidekick, superhero groupie, Watchtower, Brainiac, bad wife, Doomsday groupie, meteor freak, widow, information broker, and finally the wife of the Green Arrow. Again, whew! This is why I was a Lois fan.

'Being Human' is an Americanized version of a British show of the same name. Think 'Three's Company' with a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost. The differences between the American and the British versions are stark. Whereas the British version was edgy, quirky, and poetic, the American version was cheeky, overly sentimental, and bogged down with annoying dialogue. The British version had problems in latter seasons, but the first season was rather good. The American version had an occasional vein of creativity, but was often eclipsed by sloppy story telling, annoying characters, and questionable casting.

The American version stars Sam Huntington as Josh the werewolf, Meaghan Rath as Sallythe ghost, and veteran scifi actor Sam Witwer (Battlestar Galactica | Smallville |Clone Wars) as the vampire Aiden. I actually liked Witwer's portrayal more than I did the guy who played the vampire in the British version (Aiden Turner as Mitchell).

Unlike Aiden, who is a textbook tortured/sensitive/sexy/melancholy vamp, Josh and Sally are nails on chalkboard irritating. Huntington has those big brown puppy dog eyes, which I normally find endearing, but in this case, it makes me want to punch him. In addition to the writing, I found the actor's delivery and voice to be particularly grating. At the same time, there is something about Huntington that reminds me a little of my husband. Is that weird? My husband said that was weird. Perhaps I'm projecting, but I love my husband! Anywhoo, similar to Huntington, Rath's whiny delivery does her no favors either.

Witwer and Kristen Hager (Nora, the second wolf) are the two most watchable characters on the show. Both of them deliver their lines quite well, considering what they have to work with. Again, this may just be how the characters are written, rather than the actors themselves. Dark broody vampiric characters are so common in fantasy nowadays that it may simply be easier to write and portray them. However, I do think the other actors' delivery may have been part of the problem.

I tried so hard to watch this show, but I could only get through the third season before I called it quits. Admittedly, 'Being Human' is not on par with big budget fantasy shows like 'Game of Thrones,' nor is it as good as the less expensive but brilliant show, 'Orphan Black,' nor is it ridiculous like 'True Blood.' So I'm not sure where this show fits in, which is part of the problem. It couldn't really find its niche. Perhaps the show was a victim of its own circumstance.

The recently cancelled 'Revolution' had a multitude of problems, one of the least was Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos). The show's first season was so bad that even show creator Eric Kripke (who also created 'Supernatural') admitted as much at last year's Comic Con.

I could understand why no electricity would put a serious damper on civilization. When my electricity goes out even for a few hours, I feel like I'm in the dark ages. But the simple fact is that unless every electrical engineer in the world dies, someone would know how to get the grid back up. It may take a few years, but the grid would eventually go back up, slowly but surely. Even if by some miracle all of the electrical engineers were killed and no one understood how to make electricity anymore (which has been mass produced in some form or another since the late 19th century), then what about steam power? What about gas? What about coal? The premise of the show was just too simple and Kripke acknowledged exactly that.

Then you have the lead character Charlie Matheson. If you've seen even a few episodes of 'Revolution' then you likely scratched your head at Charlie at some point in time. In lieu of common sense, Charlie chooses the opposite every time. There have been multiple articles dedicated to all of the stupid things Charlie has done. Vulture has a good one. It's up to Charlie's battle-hardened uncle, Miles Matheson (Billy Burke) to bring her back to earth each and every time. The lead character should be the character that you most relate to, not the one you hope falls down a well. Yes, I know that Charlie was just a young teenage girl, but so was Buffy.

I should note that I do not believe the problems with Charlie's character are in any way related to actress Tracy Spiridakos. Spiriadakos isn't a well-known actor, but I previously saw her play a rogue werewolf on 'Being Human' Season 2. Spiridakos was quite good as a 'Being Human' guest star, so I tend to think that the character's problems originate with the writers.

I preface this by saying that I'm a huge fan of 'The Walking Dead,' both of the comic books and of the television series. That said, the television series has irritated me in more ways than I could ever imagine. I've written about it before. You can see my article on the "The 17 Most Ridiculous Things on The Walking Dead" for more details on my frustrations. The show has had a plethora of annoying characters, writing missteps, and production problems. Thus, Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) is #8 on my list.

In the graphic novels, Lori Grimes was not necessarily one of my favorite characters, but she was smart and capable. I understood where she was coming from and I understood why she made the decisions that she did. In the show, not so much. For some reason the televised version of Lori has sparked fan ire like no other. Since Sarah Wayne Callies is a good actor, I blame poor writing exclusively. Lori's character was so poorly written and ill received that the writers were forced to do a complete 180 with the character in Season 3, but it was too little too late.

Similar to the books, Lori left her husband Rick to his fate in an abandoned hospital thinking that he was dead. It was slightly irritating in the books, but one could understand this mistake. It was the freaking apocalypse after all. Lori quickly started sleeping with alpha male Shane, who turned out to be a full fledged psychopath. I should note that I don't think the Shane of the graphic novels was a psychopath in the same way he was portrayed as on the show by Jon Bernthal. In the novels, Shane was troubled and he did eventually "snap," but television Shane took crazy to a whole new level. As such, you kinda have to wonder why Lori was ever with television Shane?

But what made television Lori so irritating wasn't what happened before, but what happened after Rick reappeared. Once Rick returned, Lori rightly ended things with Shane despite likely being pregnant by him. Unfortunately, television Lori kept going back and forth between Shane and Rick and couldn't/wouldn't make her mind on who she wanted to be with, which confused both characters.
Then there was the serious lack of mothering of Carl. Lori was by her own admission "not mother of the year," as she kept "losing" Carl. Seriously you have one job to do, watch Carl, yet Lori was always screaming, "Where's Carl?" It happened so often that there are a slew of memes dedicated to "Where's Carl?" Some of which have been quite creative.

Then the piece de resistance is when Lori "suggested" that Rick might have to kill an increasingly dangerous Shane, then when Rick does kill Shane (IN SELF DEFENSE MIND YOU), Lori is furious with Rick for... I don't know...not getting killed by Shane? Do see the logic there? I do. Then there was the whining. Oh the whining. You're in the apocalypse. It sucks, we get it. Throw in a few other irritating scenes for good measure, like Lori flipping her car over because she wasn't paying attention. Seriously? All you have to do is avoid walkers on the road. You can even run them over and it's fine. It's not like there are traffic jams.

All that aside, Lori redeemed herself in my opinion when she died in a horrible way in order to save her baby. She knew she was going to die one way or another, but she went out in true 'Walking Dead' fashion. I have to give her props for that. It's sad to say, but Lori was way cooler as a ghost.

Where to begin with Connor (Vincent Kartheiser)? This is a character that I'm not sure if it was the actor's delivery or the writing. Vincent Kartheiser is equally irritating in 'Mad Men,' but then again, he's playing another sleazebag, so perhaps it's purposeful. Connor in 'Angel' ended well, and one couldn't really blame him for being a jerk early on. It's the whole nature versus nurture argument. After all, Connor was stolen by Wesley (Alexis Denisof), kidnapped by Holtz (Keith Szarabajka), taken to a hell dimension, and brainwashed to hate his father. We get it writers. Babies aren't as much fun to watch to grow up (although I think they are!). The writers needed to make Connor grow up quick. So what better way to make Connor grow up than have him become a man in the blink of one episode?

Fine, but do you have to make Connor so darn hateful? Angry, ok, but hateful? He buries his father alive in an ocean tomb, he tries to kill his father on numerous occasions, he aligns himself with any enemy of his father's he can, and does any bad thing he can think to do, yet Connor is not a villain? He's just misguided. This is where the writers go wrong.

Ok writers, if you want to create a villainous non-villain think Gaius Baltar (James Callis) of the reimagined 'Battlestar Galactica.' Callis' portrayal of Baltar was freaking brilliant. Baltar was such a good villain that sometimes I forgot he was a villain. Sure Baltar was indirectly responsible for the deaths of billions of colonials, but I still liked Gaius Baltar. So I understand what the writers were trying to achieve, but there is something to be said for subtlety. Connor's character was non too subtle. The other problem was Kartheiser's delivery, which was way too emo for my taste. So not only was this character poorly written, but he was likely miscast.

I watched 'Stargate Universe,' but not enough to develop a disdain for any of the characters. That said, I have heard so much complaining about Chloe (Elyse Levesque) from 'Stargate Universe' that I just had to include her on the list. In some circles, Chloe has been described as one of the most hated characters in the 'Stargate' franchise. However, my main issue is with the show creators/producers. Why would they stop the production of the awesomely cheesy/soft scifi 'Stargate Atlantis' in lieu of the crappy 'Stargate Universe?' That question haunted me for about two minutes and then I moved on to watch something else.

On to Chloe. Chloe was perhaps one of the most predictable, cliched, annoying, and worst of all boring, scifi characters I've seen in the franchise. Everything you ever wanted to know about Chloe was in the pilot. So there really wasn't any mystery to the character. Mystery=good. You always want to unravel the layers of your characters over the course of the season. If you don't, then what's the point?

Well, if the character only has one layer then it's a little more difficult. Then there was the whining. Why do scifi writers always make women whine so much? I don't know. I guess I'm whining right now huh? But seriously, Chloe's character needed some serious fleshing out, as did several other characters. There were all kinds of problems with this show. Thankfully it only lasted one season, but io9 wrote an article on what needed to happen if it ever went to a Season 2. They made some good points, but alas...

Watching 'True Blood' is akin to watching 'Big Brother: After Dark.' It's not in the "so bad it's good" category. It's so bad that it's just embarrassing. Seriously, this is the show I love to hate. The first few seasons were promising, but somewhere in the middle the show descended into madness--like the writers need to be on medication kind of madness. 'True Blood' has only worsened with age. I keep watching it though because I'm not a quitter! I'm a pig at a ham and egg breakfast. I'm committed.

Admittedly, I was one of those people who took a while to warm up to Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, but at some point I just accepted it. I accepted it the way that you hear a bad song over and over again, and start to like it. I especially liked the Eric and Sookie dynamic. I'm also an Alexander Skarsgard fan, but who isn't?

Clearly the problem isn't Paquin. She's an Oscar winner for goodness sake. I'm not a Paquin fan, but I acknowledge that the bulk of the problem lies with the writers and producers employed by HBO. Please someone stop them. Please. They ruined 'True Blood' and they are on their way of ruining 'Game of Thrones' with the possible exclusion of Lady Stoneheart.

I thought the smoke monster from a few seasons ago was bad, but last season was just horrible. Last year's introduction of Warlow (Robert Kazinsky) as the Rob Zombie ghost/vampire/fairy king was the last straw. First he's a creepy ghost creature in a western duster who shows up in Sookie's bathroom. Then he's a clean shaven guy who looks like he's in a boy band. Then since we're supposed to hate him again (cue lazy writers), he starts slapping Sookie around in the last episode.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Now Sookie has a fresh start in Season 7 with the super hot (AND alive) hot blooded wolf man, Alcide (Joe Manganiello). Side note: Manganiello is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet at a scifi convention. But Sookie doesn't want to be comfortable or live happily ever after because what would be the fun in that?

In the first episode of season 7, Sookie and her merry band of friends are viciously attacked at Merlots by a band of rabid diseased vampires. Some people are killed, some are taken away to be butchered later. So what does Sookie decide to do? She runs off into the woods to walk alone because people (rightfully so) think mean thoughts about her. The cherry on top is when she throws her cell phone away. Who needs a cell phone when there are rabid vampires lurking around? One thing Warlow did get right, "Sookie, you are a danger whore." Best line in the series. The rest of the characters on 'True Blood' are pretty darn annoying, so Sookie is not alone.

What can be said about Skye (Chloe Bennet) in 'Agents of Shield?' Skye is slowly growing on me (like a fungus), but when I saw her in the first episode, I said to myself, "thank goodness this irritating girl is just in the first episode and not actually on the show." Then the writers said psych! She's the lead character! Skye is supposedly a master hacker with a squeaky voice who lives in her van and then suddenly becomes a member of an elite squad of secret agents. Yeah, ok.

I get it. Skye is the newbie character. Her character is supposed to help the audience follow along, but instead of introducing the audience to the inner workings of S.H.I.E.L.D., she comes across as an angsty teenager. No one likes angsty teenagers. No one. Truthfully, it's a hard role to play. The actor has to be relatable and the dialogue has to be decent.Eve Myles did a good job playing this newbie role in Torchwood (Gwen Cooper), but Chloe Bennet is still a bit green. It didn't help matters that 'Agents of Shield' had a hard time finding its footing during the first half of the season. The show started at a glacial pace, but gradually improved over time. I can only think that the writers saw the problems and made necessary corrections. Thankfully this is still Joss Whedon's show and he's not going to allow the writers to keep producing crap.

Pop Mythology complains that Skye is the typical "Mary Sue" character. A character with a cool name, extraordinary talents that come out of nowhere, no visible character flaws, an unusual back story, and a close relationship with the canon character. ScreenRant believes that one way to improve the show would be to get rid of weak links like Skye and Agent Ward (Brett Dalton) and focus more on characters like Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen). I concur.

Bella Swan of the 'Twilight' films (Kristin Stewart) is everything I don't want my daughter to be. She's weak-willed, boring, indecisive, whiny, and a simpleton. The fact that Anastasia Steele from '50 Shades of Grey' is exclusively based on Bella Swan should tell you something. She bites her lip a lot and she's clumsy, which is supposed to be adorable. Although I don't know why? We all understand teen angst. I'm sure most of us geeks were once awkward teenagers. So the awkward lovesick part--I get. My main problem with Bella is that her only ambition seems to be to be Edward's girlfriend?

When Edward leaves town Bella cannot function. She throws herself off of a bridge into water and frequently slips into catatonic states. I've been through bad breakups, but nothing like this. Seriously, do something, anything. Start a stamp collection, take guitar lessons, go salsa dancing. My outlet was movies. Say what you want about Katniss Everdeen of 'The Hunger Games,' but she puts Bella Swan to shame. The casting of perpetual mumbler Kristin Stewart only added to the problem. Bella Swan is one of the most irritating characters ever.

As bad as Lori was, Andrea (Laurie Holden) was a million times worse. Holden is a decent actor, so the bulk of the problems with her character were bad writing. Although I do think part of the problem with the character was the actress' delivery, but that was minor in comparison to the writing and direction of Andrea's character.

In the comics, both Lori and Andrea were competent and trustworthy. In fact, Andrea was fan favorite. I would also like to acknowledge that Andrea was my own personal favorite. The television show has been a different story. Andrea's character was so badly written that she was almost a villain. Part of me wishes they had just made her a "proper" villain, similar to Shane, instead of a pseudo-villain. Andrea's list of irritations is much longer than Lori's. Here are just a few reasons why people were annoyed with Andrea:

-Andrea was told specifically NOT to shoot at a mysterious "possible" walker until the guys checked it out, but she did anyway. She in turn nearly shot at and nearly killed Darryl.

-Andrea didn't want to help out the other women with what she considered to be "women's work." Instead she sat on the trailer pointing her gun at things, "working on her tan," as Lori said. I have to admit that was a good line.

-Andrea started sleeping with Shane, who as we already established above was a bonafide psychopath. I know pickings are slim in the apocalypse, but seriously? Lori was guilty of this mistake too.

-Andrea was cared for by Michonne for eight months and later betrayed her so she could be with the Governor or as Michonne put it, "you betrayed me for a warm bed." The Governor was her second psychopath. There's only one common denominator in this equation. Andrea certainly likes a bad boy.

-Andrea wouldn't listen to Michonne when she told her that the Governor was bad news. If your best friend who has helped you survive the zombie horde for eight months tells you not to trust some guy, you listen.

-Andrea enjoyed watching the walker fights. The depravity of watching these former people attacking living people is sickening, but Andrea enjoyed it.

-It didn't bother Andrea that the Governor kept a roomful of living dead heads and a zombie daughter. I don't know, but for me this would have been a deal breaker.

-While guarding the wall with fellow Woodbury citizen (Haley), Andrea has to show off when Haley misses a few shots at some walkers. Andrea proceeds to jump down and take them on hand to hand. No one likes a showoff Andrea. No one.

-Even after witnessing the Governor placing both Merle and Darryl in a death match, Andrea still doesn't realize that Governor=bad. I have heard of people playing the "devil's advocate," but Andrea took that literally.

-Even when she's told what her boyfriend has done, she still defends him. Have you ever had a friend or a family member date a total dirt bag? When you tell them that they are bad news their eyes gloss over and they give you an empty stare? That was Andrea.

*The Governor kidnapped and attempted to kill Glenn and Maggie.

*The Governor shot up the prison and attempted to kill the rest of them.

*The Governor tried to kill your best friend Michonne.

*Then Andrea accuses Michonne of turning everyone against her. Huh?

-Andrea kept pausing and stopping to look/talk to Milton while trying to free herself of the death chair. There's no hurry of course. Milton is just turning into a zombie who will rip the flesh from your bones. Andrea must be one of those people who can't talk and chew gum at the same time. Why couldn't she talk and continue to reach for the pliers to free herself? If Milton still got her in the end then that's fine, but at least she tired. Nope, not this Andrea. This was a mistake with the writing. Pure and simple.

Most normal human beings have annoying attributes. So the viewing audience could have accepted a few of Andrea's annoyances, but the list above is too much to bear. Some fans were so irritated with Andrea's character that some were happy with her character's demise. Also who wrote her last scene of her attempted escape? I'm not sure if the writers wanted people to hate her even more or if they wanted to give her as long as possible onscreen. Couldn't they have made her a little less irritating even in her final scene? She kept talking to Milton, not focusing on her restraints, all the while Milton is fast turning into a zombie. Bad move Andrea. So yes, in 'The Walking Dead's case it's almost exclusively due to bad writing. 'The Walking Dead' hasn't been the same since Darabont left. SPOILER: I'm just glad they finally left the prison.

The reigning king of irritation is still Jar Jar Binks (voice of Ahmed Best). Jar Jar was/is one of the most annoying characters in all of science fiction for various reasons. As Jar Jar is an animated character, the primary culprit is of course George Lucas. Jar Jar was a Gungan, native to the planet of Naboo. Jar Jar was also dumb as a sack of hammers with an Afro-Caribbean accent, which some people weren't too happy about. Oh but wait, Lucas wasn't done offending people. So he threw in a few more questionable characters, like the greedy weak-willed fish people (Neimoidians) who were depicted with Asian accents.

I'm in no way saying that Lucas is prejudiced or racist. He's married to an African-American woman and they have a beautiful little girl together, but Lucas does seem to be a little clueless sometimes. Ultimately, I think Jar Jar Binks was a failed attempt at comic relief and franchising. Supposedly Jar Jar was created to sell young children toys. Figures.

44 comments:

Woah those TWD writers sound sexist to make the women this annoying :/ Sookie is awful but it's Paquin fault's too, she is just awful on the show Oscar or no Oscar. I still remember than scene back in season 1 when she was crying about her grandma that was some of the worst acting I've seen

Ha, yep! TWD writers are well known for making female characters purposely insane. It's irritating. I think Paquin is ok as an actress, but I agree with you that scene was terrible. She has been hit and miss sometimes.

I knew Jar Jar had to be in there. Agree with Bella, although I liked Ruby Rhod and the girl from Jurassic Park.Here's the one(s) that top my list - the twin Autobots from Transformers II. They were offensive on every level possible.

I had to laugh when you mention how Andrea just sat there and watched Milton turning into a Walker. I think I yelled at the TV while she was doing it. Chris Tucker started out being a little annoying in The Fifth Element, but before long, I really liked his character.

It's funny that Ruby Rhod was my first experience seeing Chris Tucker and I thought he was a horrible character. Now that I know the actor I realize they just took his normal acting up a notch. So, he's less annoying to me now. This list is right on the money Ms. Mariah. LOL

Yes, I almost didn't add her b/c Almost Human got cancelled, but her character really irritated me. I think the problem is that they didn't develop her character like they did the others. Probably for the reasons that io9 indicated. She was just a love interest.

Awesome list! I actually like Lex, Ruby, and Sookie, but Sookie is doing some ridiculously dumb things lately.

I hate the sexism of The Walking Dead. I hate it so much. I really liked Andrea until S3 ruined her. As for Lori, I hated her too, but in hindsight I feel a little bad for her, and occasionally defend her. Especially when I hear people say "Rick deserves a real woman like Michonne, she's so much better than Lori" but that's a whole other issue. lol

YES on the Star Wars characters! Hayden Christensen is awful. He was good in Life as a House, then he sucked in everything else, especially Star Wars. And I don't know wtf Lucas was thinking with Jar Jar.

I would like Agents of SHIELD so much better if Skye was dead. I hated her and Ward, but at least Ward got interesting with the Hydra thing. Fucking Skye...no.

Didn't Being Human UK kill off their entire main cast? That's gotta be pretty balsy.

Oh yes, Sookie. She wouldn't have been on my list a few years ago, but now all bets are off.

The sexism on TWD is so awful. They seriously make people hate the female characters by making them annoying. I agree about the Michonne thing. I like Michonne a lot, but I think Danai received a similar question on 'The Talking Dead.' She rightfully responded that no one could replace Lori because she was Carl's mother and Rick's wife. That kind of bond simply cannot be "replaced." It sounds really pretentious, but as a mother I know that no one (except my husband) will love my child like I do. So to say that Lori can be replaced by someone is ridiculous.

I do feel like the writers of TWD destroyed both Lori and Andrea for me. Their characters were written so poorly and were both so whiny. Why? It's ok to introduce flaws, but at some point if there's too many flaws the bad overwhelms the good.

Oh my goodness, I'm so tired of Skye. Ward definitely improved when it was revealed he was hydra. I was so glad they didn't go "pysch" he's only been pretending to go along with hydra to flush out the real baddies, no he was the real baddie. That was a nice twist b/c usually the powers that be always do the ole' predictable switcharoo..."oh he was bad, but he was really good, pretending to be bad." Nope. Ward was just bad. Which was much better.

Only now we will have to deal with the whole can he be redeemed crap and will Skye be able to forgive? Oy vey. I just don't want to see it. Skye is the worst character. The more I think about her the higher on the annoying list she goes.

Yep, Being Human Uk killed off their entire main cast at some point. I think the actors wanted to leave. They did it piecemeal, so they didn't all leave at once.

Great list, but I hardly watch TV so the only one of those characters I've seen is Skye from Shield. Meh...I'm rather indifferent toward her.

As for the movie characters you have some nice inclusions. Anakin would shoot up near the top for me. I'm with your husband on Ruby Rhod, so I'm glad he was listed. Love that you included Bella, but wouldn't have minded if you made her share her ranking with Edward and Jacob. Yeah, that would've been appropriate.

I will defend Lex Murphy, though. She was annoying in spots but not during the T-Rex scene, at least to me. Fear makes people do strange things and smart people do stupid stuff all the time, especially when they're teenagers. My point is there's no telling how anyone will react to suddenly being in the presence of a real live, hungry, and angry T-Rex. If anyone in that scene reacted that way, I'd have given them a pass, including Sam Neill's character. I mean, we're talking about a killing machine no one had ever thought was even possible to see suddenly right in front of you. ITo summarize, T-Rex.

Thanks Wendell! I appreciate your comment. Yes, my tv watching has been plentiful. Although I don't watch nearly as much now that I have a child. You're so right. Edward should have been on this list. He was pretty irritating.

I can see your point about Lex Murphy, but Idk. If I would have seen a big monster like that coming towards me even as a teen I wouldn't have shone a light in its face. I was around the same age as Lex was when that movie came out. Even back then I couldn't see myself doing something like that. I remembered thinking in theater, what is she thinking!!!

Great list! I'm not familiar with most of the people, but I do find Lana Lang, Anakin Skywalker and Bella Swan annoying. Lana Lang was all right at first, but her character just started to irritate me at some point. Bella Swan gets more annoying in the succeeding films after Twilight. Darth Vader seems like a cool character but Anakin Skywalker seems to be the opposite. I couldn't fathom why Padme Amidala would consider even dating this guy, and why Obi-wan Kenobi kept him as his trainee. How can a whiny character turn out to be that guy? It doesn't make sense.

Hi there, yes thank you I completely agree! Anakin was such a whiny character. How did anyone ever put up with him? Like you, I thought Lana was ok at first, but then she started to really get on my nerves with the insanity. I have to blame the writers on Lana. As for Anakin, I think it was a combination of Lucas and Chirstenson's acting.

Very nice list! I'm not a big enough Star Wars fan to make fully informed discussions on them, but I can see how Hayden is annoying. And Jar Jar Binks is the biggest troll in film history.

So much of what frustrated me about TWD was the pacing of the third season. I can see how people are frustrated with Lori if they've read the comic books but the overall intense hate towards her is a little much for me. I think she had some redeeming and good scenes, but her weak loyalty to Rick or Shane was annoying. Maybe if they had made her more of a mother figure to the whole group rather than letting her be that woman having an affair, she would've been a stronger character.

I love Laurie Holden and still love Andrea despite her faults, because I chose to appreciate her overall character arc - but walking in on the post-fight between Michonne and the Governor, seeing all the heads, and not making her leave then was a horrible flub. In a way though because "she wanted to save the townspeople" her death lives on. The group took care of all those townspeople, and goes on to accept others like Bob to help them out.

Hi Katy, yes I agree. Season 3 had some issues. I do think writing deserves much of the blame for the Lori and Andrea hate. For the most part people will give characters the benefit of the doubt, but there were a few key scenes (like Andrea seeing the heads or Lori telling Rick to kill Shane and then getting mad about Killing Shane) that push their characters past the point of no return.

Great list! I completely agree with most of these, especially Anakin, Lori and Jar Jar! I have no idea why they cast Hayden as Anakin, he was awful. Poor Natalie Portman had to force the chemistry between the two and it was so bad. However, I did really like Revenge of the Sith.

I agree with Connor, Dawn, and especially Charlie (she was a main reason that I quit watching the show). I have mixed feelings about Chloe from SGU being on this list.

First of all, there are actually two seasons of Stargate Universe. They do a lot to make up for doing a poor job with her character in the second season. They still have some issues with their treatment of women through the show, but I think it was an interesting change after Stargate Atlantis. I loved the characters on SGA, but I think after five seasons it was falling into a rut. SGU had a rough start, but it works a lot better on DVD and comes together really well.

I do have to agree about Andrea, who was the most frustrating character on a show that's filled with them. I think Skye is more a symptom of Agents of Shield's early problems than of her character in particular. When the show got better, Skye became a lot better. I never found her annoying, just limited at the start.

Hi Dan! Thanks for your comments. I didn't realize there were 2 seasons of SGU. I guess I just stopped watching after S1 and didn't think there had been another. Thanks for that correction!

Perhaps I need to watch S2 and see if the characters ever found their grove.

For me, the issue with Skye is that she's the Mary Sue character. She is very one-dimensional. HOwever, she has grown on me over time. They have made some minor improvements over the course of the 1st season, but I still think her character is extraneous compared to the other characters.

OK, I just couldn't stand these two: Helo and Athena on Battlestar Galactica. They had their moments, but all in all, Commander/Admiral/President/Teacher Adama/Roslin should have airlocked these two the second he/she had the chance. They were nothing but trouble. Helo played the sci fi obligatory "It's a crime against humanity" moralist. Every show seems to have to have one. And Athena? Don't get me started.

More recently: Laurel Lance from Arrow. Arrgh this woman. She was awesome in season 1 of arrow. A tough lawyer fighting for underdog. Then in some magical sleight of hand they turned her into a tough vigilant whilst simultaneously making her weak as piss. Actually Arrow is pretty awful I am not sure why I watch it.

I have to agree about Laurel Lance. I was really disappointed with her character. I wish they would have made Sarah the Black Canary instead of just being Canary. Sarah was a great Canary. I stopped watching Arrow during season 3. It almost felt like 'Lost' sometimes with how often they were going back to the island.

I think Darcy was almost as annoying as Jar Jar Binks. Darcy is more annoying than Dawn Summers. She was even much more annoying in Thor: The Dark World. The funny thing is...that Thor: The Dark World shares a lot of similarities with Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Thor: The Dark World is the MCU equivalent of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Both movies have so much in common. And they're both terrible films and the worst in their own respective franchises. Darcy (Kat Dennings) made that movie non-rewatchable! Admittedly, Jane was a bit annoying, but her annoying sidekick, Darcy, was much much, much, much, much more annoying!

Aww Wesley? I'm far more irritated by Wil Wheaton honestly. I think there is only one episode in which I liked Wesley. It was the one where Dr. Crusher was sucked into another dimension...and Wesley was working with that alien to time phase...or something?

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ASpaceBlogyssey has been semi-retired. I will continue to do the occasional film review. Unfortunately, I don't see nearly enough movies to keep this blog going anymore. Please feel free to visit me at my new website on Wordpress www.fatchange.com where I am blogging about lifestyle issues.

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